Hogan Lovells Grows Privacy Practice in Washington

Allison J. Bender joins Hogan Lovells in the Privacy and Information Management Practice Area in the Washington office as a senior associate.  Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, Allison served as a cybersecurity attorney at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she advised the Office of Cybersecurity & Communications on cybersecurity and privacy laws, regulations and policies.

 
Allison brings key experience in incident response as well as cybersecurity policy, information sharing, liability and incentives. She was primary operational legal counsel for the federal response to the Heartbleed vulnerability, the USIS-KeyPoint data breach, and the Healthcare.gov data breach. She served as Chair of the Automated Indicator Sharing Privacy & Compliance Working Group, provided primary legal advice for the implementation of Executive Order 13691 regarding Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs) and private sector clearances, advised the DHS Cyber Information Sharing and Collaboration Program (CISCP); and advised the Interagency Task Force implementing Executive Order 13636, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” Presidential Policy Directive 21, “Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience,” focusing on the “NIST Cybersecurity Framework,” information sharing, liability, and incentives.  Allison was also principally involved in DHS policy efforts related to cybersecurity export controls, particularly Wassenaar implementation.
 
Before focusing on cybersecurity, Allison spent six years at DHS negotiating complex, international and domestic, multimillion dollar research and development agreements in a variety of emerging science and technology areas. She served as Chief Negotiator for the United States Government on nine legally binding international agreements.  She led the oversight of $1b+ in DHS activities, leading compliance programs for export controls, and treaty and regulatory compliance. Allison also spent four years as primary counsel for the SAFETY Act, providing legal advice on legislation that protects companies with antiterrorism technologies, laying the groundwork for many of the policies and procedures for its current operation and reviewing over 500 applications, more than any other attorney in the history of the program.
 
Allison received her L.L.M. in National Security Law, with distinction, from Georgetown University in 2012, a J.D. from Washington & Lee University in 2006, and a B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2003.